No, not Philip Roth’s 1959 controversial NBA winner (not basketball, National Book Award). This is Ch J Patrick J. (“Scholar Pat”) Urda’s takedown of Del Monte LLC, Dev X Investment 2015, LLC, Tax Matters Partner, T. C. Memo. 2026-107, filed 10/19/26. featuring the Del Monte Building in downtown Columbus, OH.
“(T)he Del Monte Building was built in 1902 on the northwest corner of East Mound and South Third Streets in downtown Columbus. Originally constructed as an 18-unit apartment complex, the 26,136-square-foot building consists of four stories, three above ground and one raised basement or garden level. It sits on a 0.43-acre site, with the building covering 0.269 acres and two surface parking lots occupying the remaining 0.161 acres.” T. C. Memo. 2026-107, at pp. 2-3. There follows a really complete broker’s setup. Once again, Tax Court could produce some first-class real estate brokers, if the judiciary didn’t pay better.
Unfortunately for the Del Monte’s trusty attorneys, loyal readers of this my blog, Ch J Scholar Pat is less than charitable about their clients.
“In these syndicated conservation easement cases, we return to ground previously plowed by this Court and by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Corning Place Ohio, LLC v. Commissioner (Corning Place I), T.C. Memo. 2024-72, aff’d, Corning Place Ohio, LLC v. Commissioner (Corning Place II), 158 F.4th 715 (6th Cir. 2025). Once again, owners of historic buildings in Ohio (Columbus this time, rather than Cleveland) claim entitlement to tens of millions of dollars in charitable contribution deductions following the donations of easements placed over the buildings’ façades. The cheap sophistry at the heart of these positions remains empty and unconvincing.” T. C. Memo. 2026-107, at p. 2. Read all about Corning in my blogposts “The Façade Stands Up,” 2/28/22, and “Nothing to Lose,” 7/17/24.
If you want the story of the wheeling and dealing that backstages these melodramas, check out Ch J Scholar Pat’s version at pp. 6-19.
Enter the appraiser, whom I’ll call CC3, a disciple of Michael Ehrmann, a name well-known in the SCE. CC3 patterned his appraisals on Ehrmann’s, despite knowing Ehrmann was enjoined from tax appraising by USDCNDOH.
There’s the usual argy-bargy about “highly contestable readings of what it means to be perpetual.” (Hi, Judge Holmes). But the Del Monte’s sand-dance around the development rights (as usual miscalled “air rights”) to build above the protected structure, leaves the grantor with too much and the 501(c)(3) with too little in case of extinguishment. The mortgagee’s papers survive the subordination attack.
The appraisal, of course, goes down in flames. The supposed expert knowledge of donors and their input is insufficient to establish knowing falsity. But the proposed HBU was both physically and financially unsustainable at time of granting the easement.
Petitioners do get some of their deductions allowed. But they’re hit with the 40% gross valuation misstatement chop on the easement, and 20% negligence in the disallowed Section 162s.
